


Alesha Phillips as survivor not victim; or when becoming a victim of crime results in character development not victimisation

by Persiflage



Category: Law & Order: UK
Genre: Character Study, Essays, Female Character of Color, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-20
Updated: 2011-11-20
Packaged: 2017-10-26 07:58:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/280645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A meta essay inspired by the Law and Order: UK episode 'Line Up': it is a meditation on seasons 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Law and Order: UK.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alesha Phillips as survivor not victim; or when becoming a victim of crime results in character development not victimisation

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warning: Contains discussions of violent sex crimes.

I had never seen Law & Order in any of its flavours before the UK franchise started airing and I only began watching, initially, because I am a big fan of Freema Agyeman who plays Crown Prosecutor Alesha Phillips, whom I had previously seen playing Doctor Who’s Martha Jones.

As I watched the final episode of series one (as ITV styled it): ‘Alesha’, written by Catherine Treganna, I was horrified and furious to see Alesha had become the victim of the worst possible crime, outside of murder: rape. However, subsequent seasons have shown that the writers and producer intended Alesha to be a survivor, not a victim.

From the very first episode of Law & Order: UK we are shown that Alesha Phillips is less cynical, less experienced, and more idealistic (though not necessarily more naïve) than either the senior Crown Prosecutor, James Steel, or the Director of the CPS, George Castle. She is also frequently the more openly caring and compassionate one in her partnership with James Steel, such as when she encourages Dionne to stand up and give evidence in the case involving Dionne’s dead son (Care – Chris Chibnall) or when she’s worrying about the outcome of a successful prosecution for murder of 13 year old Jono Blake:

Alesha: He’s 13. He goes into the prison system, he’s lost for life.  
George: Then he shouldn’t have committed murder. Staunch your bleeding heart, Alesha, the victim is in the mortuary. We’re Crown Prosecution, not Crown Empathy. (Unloved – Terry Cafola)

Interestingly, James agrees with George at this point, but later, when Jono asks to change his plea to guilty so that he will be sent to prison, James’ point of view aligns with Alesha’s:

James: We helped destroy him. Now he thinks he’s worthless.  
George: Is Danny dead? Yes. Did Jono kill him? Yes. Has justice been served? Yes. The Law is a blunt instrument, but it’s all we have. So yes, accept the plea.

It’s worth noting, that while George is occasionally sharp with Alesha with regard to her ‘bleeding heart’, he is never nasty about it: the viewer senses that he is concerned that she cares too much and that she will become burnt out, so he encourages her to become somewhat more detached in her dealings with the people on behalf of whom the CPS is prosecuting.

Alesha’s caring nature is well demonstrated in the episode ‘Alesha’, which opens with her visiting a male gynaecologist , who proceeds to touch her inappropriately, then when she objects, suggests the possibility that she may have cancer in an attempt to intimidate her and distract her from her accusation. Alesha, however, is made of strong stuff, and she immediately heads to MIU to report the incident to Natalie, Ronnie and Matt. Unfortunately, despite several interviews, Ronnie and Matt are unable to find sufficient evidence to make a case for James to prosecute Dr Merrick, so Alesha decides to go back for the test Merrick had claimed was necessary. When Matt later asks her why she went back, knowing Merrick had already behaved inappropriately once, she answers: Someone had to stop him.

This, we are shown again and again, is typical of Alesha, and in this case, we learn that Alesha had suspicions about Merrick after she had sent her friend Diane Perkins to see him, and Diane subsequently became suicidal. When Alesha goes to see Merrick the second time, she arms herself with a camcorder in her bag, expecting only that he might touch her inappropriately again, but knowing that this time she’ll have it on record.

Instead, however, Merrick drugs the water he gives to Alesha, then rapes her. When I saw the episode for the first time, I was very upset because I felt that Freema was playing yet another character who is badly treated by a white man (as Martha Jones was in Doctor Who), and I did not want Freema to be stuck playing characters who were the victims of white males: I like and admire Alesha immensely, and was angry that the writers had chosen to make her the victim of such a crime. However, as Alesha herself says: [she] won’t be a victim, and as James observes: She is tougher and stronger than you think.

Initially Merrick is acquitted after the defence counsel, Phyllis Gladstone (a champion of women’s rights, and in particular women who’ve been raped), proves more persuasive than James, particularly when she uncovers that Alesha already has a gynaecologist whom she sees regularly at Waterloo City, and that Alesha and Diane are friends. She convinces the jury that Alesha and Diane have concocted a plot to try to get Merrick convicted, and despite James’ best efforts, the jury believes Gladstone, and Merrick is acquitted.

James, however, is not one to take such things lying down, and while he knows that Alesha should have told him about Diane’s situation, and her suspicion that Merrick had raped her friend, he nevertheless doesn’t hesitate to go and see Matt to suggest a course of action to bring Merrick to justice. Matt tells Ronnie about James’ idea, then they take it to Natalie, who agrees wholeheartedly: Matt and Ronnie will arrest Merrick in the middle of a press conference, while he’s being filmed, then – they hope – women who’ve suffered at Merrick’s hands will come forward. Fortunately this rather risky ploy works and a sufficient number of women, including Diane Perkins, come forward to complain and Merrick’s career comes to an end.

This might have been the end of that particular story arc for Alesha, and certainly seasoned Law & Order watchers would have expected that the matter would not be referenced again, but the Law & Order: UK writers did not leave it there. First there are two small references to the incident in ‘Samaritan’, the first episode of series 2 (as aired by ITV), then in series 3’s ‘Survivor’ (written by Emilia di Girolamo), Alesha has to deal with Tamika Vincent, a young black woman convicted as a drugs mule three years earlier, and on whose case Alesha had worked (although we have not seen that story). Tamika had taken a vigorous dislike to Alesha three years ago and when the young prosecutor goes to see her about the death of a prison guard, Tamika attacks her, trying to throttle her. Discussing the incident back at the CPS, Alesha and James have the following conversation:

Alesha: She’s too busy lashing out to listen to me.  
James: Oh you’ve seen where she grew up.  
Alesha: Seen it? I grew up there. She could be in my shoes if she wanted.  
James: And you could be sewing mail bags at Cold Norton [Prison].  
Alesha: Er no, because I got off my backside and worked three jobs to get myself through Law School.  
James: Maybe she didn’t have your brains. Or your balls.

It’s clear from this conversation that James admires Alesha’s determination and self-motivation, characteristics that we see Alesha demonstrating regularly, particularly her determination to do what’s right by victims. James encourages Alesha to go back to see Tamika for the information they need and suggests she uses her ‘Hackney girl charm’ on Tamika to prise the chip from her shoulder. Alesha does use her shared background, of growing up in Hackney, to persuade Tamika to cooperate in the case the CPS is trying to build against Jackson Marshall. In court, during James’ questioning of Tamika about her involvement with Marshall and her dislike of the dead prison officer, Tamika reveals she was raped by Tyner, and the camera lingers for some time on Alesha so that we see the expressions of shock and pity that cross her face. When it comes to the verdict, the jury is hung, and Alesha goes down to the holding cell under the court to speak to Tamika, who asks if this means there will have to be another trial. Alesha explains that if Tamika is willing to speak out against Jackson Marshall, whom James has revealed during his questioning had set Tamika up for the drugs charge for which she’s in Cold Norton, then they will be able to prosecute Marshall, and in return for her evidence, Tamika will be moved to an open prison and then released on a tag. Tamika asks Alesha why she’s doing this for her, given her previous dislike of Alesha, and the young prosecutor answers:

I w-work with women who’ve been raped. I’ve seen what it does to them. How they lose their power, turn on themselves. Rape can happen to anyone and anyone can take that power back, come out the other side stronger. What he [Tyner] did to you wasn’t your fault, Tamika. You don’t have to be a victim any more. You’re a survivor.

The viewer knows that Alesha is talking about herself, and this viewer suspects that Tamika works that out for herself, if not immediately, then later. Alesha’s little stutter on ‘work’ made me suspect that initially she was going to say that she had been raped, but that she swiftly changed her mind because that is not the sort of information that is easy to share, especially with someone who has previously had such a strong dislike for you.  
The next episode in series 3 of Law & Order: UK, Richard Stokes’ ‘Masquerade’, really shows the way in which the events of ‘Alesha’ are being used to develop the character. Sally Douglas murders her boyfriend Archie Rahman, after he threatens to tell her bigoted father that they’re dating – but she claims the murder was carried out in self-defence after he’d raped her. This is the first rape case we’ve seen James and Alesha deal with since ‘Alesha’ and, unsurprisingly, James worries about how Alesha will cope:

James: Are you okay with this?  
Alesha: Of course, why wouldn’t I be?  
James: Sally’s story is similar to –  
Alesha: James, we deal with sex crimes all the time, why should this one be any different?

James is not the only one to be concerned, as the following conversation between him and George Castle shows:

George: James, is she letting her thing affect her?  
James: Her thing?  
George: You know, what happened to her.  
James: No, why would she? She’s the best prosecutor we have, George.

Despite James’ assurance, however, it is already clear that Alesha is letting her own experience colour her response to this case – the conversation between the three CPS staff which precedes this exchange makes it clear that Alesha believes Sally’s story – or wants to – and that she does not think the CPS has a case to prosecute.

Later when James asks Alesha if she believes Sally’s story, Alesha says: I really want to – making it clear that she does not or she would have said she did. Despite Alesha’s obvious reluctance to pursue the case against Sally, i.e. to do her job, James remains patient and understanding: he knows that Alesha has to make up her own mind on this one, and it is Alesha, in the end, who establishes that Sally is lying about Archie’s rape:

Alesha: Sally, I have been in there [the Old Bailey] when someone’s had to recount every single detail, and it is hard and it’s painful, and it is heart-breaking. You do not have to put yourself through that.

Sally’s blithe assurance that she can talk in detail about her supposed rape convinces Alesha that Archie didn’t attack her after all:

Alesha: There anything I need to know?  
James: No, nothing. He wouldn’t bite. Is there anything I need to know?  
Alesha: Yep. She wasn’t raped, and if Thompson won’t take the deal, then she has to go down for murder.

It is interesting to note that James does not, at least onscreen, question how Alesha knows that Sally wasn’t raped. He trusts Alesha’s instincts and her own personal experience enough to accept her assertion, and to move on with building their case.

At James’ request, Alesha gets hold of some background information on Sally, and after she shares it with him, James reveals that he is thinking of changing the focus of his cross-examination the following day. Slightly worriedly she asks:

Alesha: We will get home with this, won’t we?  
James: Have I let you down before?  
Alesha: We have to win, James. I depended on the legal system and my attacker was still acquitted. In the eyes of the Law, I also cried rape. We have to do better this time.

James acknowledges what Alesha says, and it is nice to see that she is not bitter about it, because Merrick was jailed in the end, but she is concerned about the public reputation of the CPS, to the extent that if that reputation is too badly tarnished, they cannot do their job. Fortunately for all concerned, James’ cross-examination brings out the truth: that Sally murdered Archie because she was angry and upset about his threat to tell her racist father that she was dating a boy whose family was from Bangladesh.

The episode ends with James in the pub, with a group of colleagues, waiting for Alesha. When she arrives, he gives her the drink he’d already bought for her and she asks how he knew she’d come, and he answers: You always do. Why would this case be any different? – which are much the same words Alesha used to him at the outset of the case.

We do not see Phyllis Gladstone, the lawyer who defended Merrick, again until series 5’s ‘Tick Tock’ (also written by Richard Stokes). By this time James Steel has left the CPS, choosing to resign despite the fact that he had been acquitted of perverting the course of justice, and Alesha’s now working with Jake Thorne. The pair go to see Gladstone regarding the CPS case against Joanne Vickers, whom Gladstone is defending. Although this marks the first time we’ve seen Gladstone since the episode ‘Alesha’, from the exchange that takes place between Alesha and Gladstone, I am choosing to assume they’ve crossed paths at least once before (off-screen) – otherwise Alesha deserves a medal for not flattening her!

Gladstone: So, Robin, how’s your new Batman  
Alesha: Great, we’re a dynamic duo.  
Gladstone: Rubbish, he’s driving you mad, I can see it in your eyes. Don’t worry, you’ll fall for him, all his assistants do.  
Alesha: Well, when I see his _assistant_ , I’ll be sure to tell her.

I absolutely loved the way Alesha delivers this put-down: we have seen the way in which Alesha has grown and developed into such a strong character since she and Gladstone last crossed paths onscreen, and it is brilliant to see Alesha not standing for Gladstone’s attempt to belittle her. Even when Alesha was working with James, she was never relegated to his ‘assistant’: yes, she did a lot of the legwork in getting information they needed for cases, but that, I believe, was James playing to Alesha’s strengths – she is an absolute terrier when it comes to hunting down details, as we see in the very first episode, and again and again thereafter.

I also noticed in this episode that it is Jake who refers to Alesha as a ‘liberal’ when he tells her: Time to put away the liberal textbooks – at which point Henry, the new Director of the CPS raises his eyebrows at Alesha. I gained the impression that Henry is more sympathetic to Alesha’s point of view than George ever was, and Jake less so, which is an interesting switch around on James and George’s attitudes.

At this point Jake is still getting the measure of Alesha and at one point, after Alesha’s done her terrier act and dug out some vital information, she says to Jake: See this, pretty face, me, more than. It is a nice reminder that Alesha has brains as well as beauty, and that Jake would do well to remember the fact.

A later encounter with Gladstone also made me cheer:

Gladstone: She didn’t know he was gonna kill him!  
Alesha: Yes she did! Or at least she knew he’d try. She wanted to punish all the men in her life who’d caused her pain. I can understand that.  
Gladstone looks away, clearly uncomfortable at Alesha’s last statement. And this little scene is interesting because it shows, once again, that Alesha has a much better understanding of people, even those who are not clients of the CPS, than Gladstone, despite the latter’s greater experience and longer service.

The fifth episode of series 6, ‘Line Up’, is another Emilia Di Girolamo story. It concerns a CPS case against three teenage boys, all under the legal age for consensual sex (16 in the UK), who have raped a 14 year old girl. As Jake and Henry walk through the city, they discuss the case and Henry asks:

Henry: Are you ready?  
Jake: Alesha’s leading. [At Henry’s look] She wanted to.  
Henry sighs.

From this we realise that Henry knows what happened to Alesha, but Jake does not, which is only fitting since Henry is Alesha’s immediate superior, whereas Jake is her equal. Henry then tells Jake what happened and when Jake gets back to the office, he talks to Alesha:

Jake: I’m happy to switch. I’ll trade you an aggravated burglary.  
Alesha: Why would you do that?  
Jake: Oh, just thought I’d spare you the hassle. These sort of cases are never much fun.  
Alesha: You’re a crap liar.

Alesha immediately realises that Jake is now aware of what happened to her, and makes it perfectly clear that she is going to handle this case. The defending lawyer, Renay Everett, quickly annoys Alesha by trying to get the mobile phone video footage of the rape excluded from the evidence:

Everett: You’d do the same in my shoes.  
Alesha: I wouldn’t be in your position!

It is interesting to me that both James and Alesha value working for the CPS since it means they do not have to try to defend rapists: as we find out in series 1’s ‘Unsafe’, James joined the CPS after finding himself obliged to defend a triple rapist.

Everett tries to claim that the mobile phone footage is not ‘child porn’, further annoying Alesha, who retorts: Do you have any idea how offensive that term is to victims of child abuse? Which makes me wonder how Alesha knows it is an offensive term – is it merely from her work at the CPS, or is she now, perhaps, volunteering for an organisation that works with the victims of sex crimes?

Since Judge Reynolds (who is notorious for believing women have ‘asked for it’ in rape cases), disallows the mobile phone footage, Alesha has to dig around for other information to support her case against the three teenagers, and she establishes that the boys have at least one other victim, whom Alesha goes to see:

Monique: Reece said if I told anyone he’d send it [the mobile phone footage] to my mum.  
Alesha: You didn’t tell her?  
Monique: I couldn’t.  
Alesha: She’d want to know Monique.

There speaks the voice of experience, again. I am quite sure that Alesha told her mum, but that it was one of the hardest things she had to do, probably as hard as knowing that James, George, Matt and Ronnie had all seen the video footage of her own rape.

When Alesha talks to Anna Russo, the three boys’ latest victim, the person on behalf of whom the CPS are prosecuting the teenagers, she relates to Anna the following:

Alesha: You think if it happens to you, you’ll either leg it as fast as you can or fight for your life, but that isn’t what happens. There were three of them, you couldn’t fight, you couldn’t run. You froze in order to protect yourself. That is a normal physical response. It’s a survival instinct and it worked because you’re here and you’re alive, but you’re not on your own any more, you’ve got all of us right beside you. So now it’s time to fight.

Anna, however, is unconvinced and she talks to Alesha of her dreams of being an athletics star:

Alesha: Your dreams aren’t over because of what they did to you.  
Anna: Aren’t they?  
Alesha: I know how hard it is to keep going, to see it through.

It is unclear from the dialogue whether Alesha has told Anna that she has been raped, though it would not surprise me if she had made the decision to do so. She did not tell Tamika, although she certainly hinted at it, but I think she would tell Anna, because Anna is so much younger than Alesha or Tamika, and she is clearly struggling to accept that her life is not over, and that these three boys are to blame for what happened, not Anna herself. While Alesha has a great deal of empathy with the victims of crime, and is clearly sincere, Anna might still find it hard to accept what Alesha tells her without the knowledge that Alesha has seen it through and survived her own ordeal.

In conclusion, what initially looked like a terrible decision on the part of the writers and producer of Law & Order: UK, to have a leading character become the victim of rape, has instead been used to make the character even stronger, more courageous, and more empathic than she was originally. We have seen Alesha Phillips take a potentially crippling incident (it certainly seemed to cripple her friend Diane) and use it to her advantage: she fights back on behalf of others as well as herself, and proves that she is a survivor, not a victim.


End file.
